Easy Gardening/Vegetable growing - soil bed preparation

Gardening can be easy!

Often people get turned off by the idea of gardening as they see constant images of digging, weeding, watering, cleaning, back breaking work etc. in gardening shows on TV and in magazines. Veggie patches seem to need large amount of space and many tools and products. I believe gardening has to be low input and high output pleasurable activity. Developing a veggie patch need not be a backbreaking exercises with little result. I will teach you easy vegetable gardening with minimum input, products and labor but produce enough vegetables for 7-8 months enough for your family and friends too!.

I follow very easy agricultural principles for my vegetable gardening with minimum fertilizers, work and sprays. Selections of areas in your backyard, seedbed preparation and sunlight availability are very important. If you have a back yard big or small and a fence that is more than enough. I will deal with container gardening in later blogs.

Garden/Veggie patch/seedbed preparation

Tools and materials required

All you need is a pitchfork, shovel, metal rake, a digging tool (for occasional use). Brand of tools does not matter. If you can't find the exact tools as shown below just substitute with a similar one.

You need some ash from woodfire or sand and some gypsum and some store bought potting mix.

Light Shovel to lift clods or turn soil

Metal rake

Pitch Fork to dig

Light digging tool for larger plants

                                                              Digging Tool to plant small plants from punnets

When selecting tools select strong light good quality tools. You will not have problems if you wash them after each use and oil them.  Do not buy heavy tools as they cause back and hand problems. Expensive does not mean good tool either.

Garden Bed Preparation

Generally most backyards have building materials and rubbish at the top layer. Below this top layer will be the real soil. To prepare the garden/veggie bed wait for winter and rain to commence. Don't prepare garden bed when it is dry as the bed will be hard. Once a good amount of rain commences it is the time to start the garden bed during winter if you do not have snow issues. I live in an region where in winter it is frosty and cold with temperatures going down to -6C. In summer the temperature can go up to 42-44C. If I can grow lots of veggies it is possible for most of you to grow vegetables.

For garden bed first use a pitch fork to turn the soil. For this you will need to first use a pitch fork (not a shovel) as it is easier to poke through the fork rather than cut through with a shovel. Wear some heavy garden shoes first. Now place the pitch fork on the soil to be dug  and place your foot on the top part of the pitch fork as shown below. Now press with your foot as far as it can easily. Rain should have made the ground softer. Do not use brute force as you will hurt your back. Do not dig either.

Now move the fork handle at an angle and you will lift a portion of the top part of the bed. Turn it upside down. Don't worry about the building materials or small rocks as they provide texture to the soil. Keep repeating this all over the bed to the extent you can. Initially don't do it for more than half an hour per time especially if you have never done gardening before. Dig and turn the top part of the soil as much as you can in the area where you want to plant. Repeat this process again next week especially after each rain event. This will turn clods into smaller clods as below.

Pushing the top of the pitch fork into hard soil

Top part of the ground with large dug out clods

Large clods turned into smaller clods

Now add ash or sand and some gypsum on the area as below

Ash and gypsum (brown powder) on smaller clod bed

Now after another rain turn the clods again. By now gypsum will have broken any clay into aggregates and ash or sand will add potassium and texture to the soil. Don't remove any weeds just turn them with the soil clods they will die and add texture and carbon to soil. Soil carbon will help to use nitrogen in the soil better to develop better plants.

Smaller clods with better crumble develops with ash and gypsum working to give aggregates and texture

Now after a week or two turn the soil again. You will see clods becoming smaller and smaller into 1-2 inch bits. If you need to add more ash or sand or gypsum do so now and leave it for a week or two. Now the soil clods are ready to rake. they should look as below.

Garden bed ready to rake with a metal rake.

To rake the soil clods at this stage move the teeth of the metal rake lightly up and down the area and even the bed out at the top. The bed should look as below.

Raked garden bed with small soil clods and particles.

Now your bed is ready for seed sowing or planting. You will see that your soil health will improve as soil clods become smaller and you will see number of earthworms multiplying. Increased number of earthworms will happen naturally so don't waste money buying worms. Increasing number of earthworms is and indicator of improved soil health and texture. Do do this you will be spending at best 2 hours per day one day a week for 4-6 weeks for an area of 3 meters by 8 meters. Take your time and don't hurry the process. Let  gypsum, ash or sand and nature do the work not your back and hands!!!!.

Do not sow any seed or plant unless the temperature gets above 15C. Seeds may not germinate quickly and rot away or plants may not grow quickly and establish properly. Just before you are ready to plant spread about 1 20liter bag of shop bought potting mix on top of your soil. you need this just to give a bit of a texture for the soil. Don't buy expensive mixes. Buy the cheapest possible bagged potting mix ($2-3 for a 20 liter bag). Potting mixes from garden centers can cause problems as the compost may be too hot or incomplete. Make sure when handling potting mix you use a mask and gloves and wash your hands with a good soap after use. Potting mixes can carry Ligioenella bacteria which cause infection of the lungs Legionnaire's disease. I will show you how to plant in the next blog. So get ready to prepare the veggie patch or garden bed in winter.

Note:

I do not do any composting separately as it is too much of work and will not be sufficient. I compost directly using weeds and grass clippings from the lawn when I prepare the beds. This will also act as a mulch to hold water very well. I do not add any top soil mulch as it brings snails and slugs and act as hiding spots for bugs I do not want like spiders.

If you feel that you need to do soil pH test, then dig out small amounts of soil from 5 random spots for about 10 cm deep, mix them up and test the mixture using a soil pH testing kit from the garden store. Only if you have pH below 5 you will need to add lime just before sowing or planting. Do not add urea or any other form of nitrogen. 

I do not use any water holding crystals or products such as blood and bone, sea weed, chicken manure or any other organic concoction that the garden stores sell. I do not believe there is any need for any more unproven products as with this method I can grow so much of vegetables with a small number of plants enough for me and lots of my friends and others. I do not worry too much about spraying the weeds as initially they are used as part of compost which adds carbon to the soil and makes better capturing of nitrogen.  I only dig out weeds if they get too big otherwise they act as ground cover and keep your soil good. Only get rid of noxious weeds using gloves and masks. They include Deadly night shade, Parthenium etc. Look up the internet for noxious weeds in your area and how to get rid of them.

Disclaimer: This information is provided to help people. If you have medical and other conditions you need to consult your doctor first prior to starting any gardening activity.

How to do a soil test in Bengaluru India for Agriculture and Gardening

What to do before sowing a crop or vegetable or 


planting a new garden.

Before starting an agriculture work or buying land an important thing to do is conduct a soil test. I will explain how to conduct this test below. 

Soil test will provide to a large extent composition of the soil, pH of the soil which tells if the soil is acidic (below 7) or alkaline (above 7) or neutral (7). Generally soils of 5-6.6 is considered as suitable for most crops, pulses and vegetables and for gardens.  Some crops and vegetables are very sensitive to low or high soil pH and therefore will not grow under these conditions to the best production potential.  Some crops will not germinate if the pH is below 4.8. The image below shows which level of pH is required for some crops.

http://www.aglime.org.uk/technical09.htm


Using lime at a suitable rate can help but if the pH is very low (below 4.7) then it is very difficult to correct the soil pH with lime in a short time.

Soil test will also provide the information regarding if the soil has too much of Nitrogen ( from either urea or NPK), Phosphorus and Potassium. Very high levels of nitrogen generally results in farmer using excessive nitrogen from fertilizers thinking it will increase production. However high levels of nitrogen can result in making some crops less productive due to diseases. Deficiency of some trace elements such as molybdenum also can cause growth reduction. 

High levels of nitrogen also results in being carried by water (run off) when there is high rainfall and this will go and flow into the rivers and creeks. This will cause weeds, algae (toxic) and bacteria (toxic) to grow near the river beds and in the water. This water will enter the water table and run into the water humans drink. When humans and cattle or sheep drink this water it will cause diseases in humans and animals. This will also waste nitrogen as studies have shown that about 40% of nitrogen runs off in water.

Soil needs to have optimum pH, Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium, Iron (Fe), Molybdenum (Mo), Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn), Magnesium (mg) and Copper (Cu) at the least.

Soil pH also has another impact. Low pH can result in having high toxic levels of Aluminium (Al) and or high levels of Manganese (Mn). Both the toxic elements result in growth reduction and growth suppression. This condition is called as acidic soil. 

High pH can also be associated with high levels of salt in the soil. This condition is called as soil salinity. Both these toxic conditions are due to excessive use of fertilizers without testing the soil. Both these conditions can become permanent if it is left without corrections. Therefore the land becomes barren and degraded.

How to conduct soil test


It is very simple to collect and send the soil samples for testing.
you will need
2 large bags (plastic)
1 small digger or a shovel
1 Pen and labels ( paper)
Land for testing


1. Choose a day after the rain fall and rain has dried to a large extent but moisture is still there in the soil.
2. Use the shovel or the digger to dig the soil for about 10 cms ( length of your hand)
3. Dig out some small amount of soil and place it in the plastic bag 1.
4. Dig in 10 random spots across the land where a crop or a garden will grow.
5. Place the dug out soil from each of the 10 spots in the plastic bag 1.
6.Now mix up the soil carefully and throughly with hand.
7. Place the required amount ( as required by the testing company) of the mixed soil in the bag numbered 2.
8. Send the mixed soil to the soil testing company.
9. When the results are provided take it to the local agricultural officer for assessment and correction recommendation.
10. Use the right type of fertilizer to correct the soil.
Note: In most of the western countries soil testing kits are available to test pH only. testing for pH only may not be enough for best production.

Test the soil once in 2-3 years to make sure you have done the correction for that specific crop you want to grow.

testing the soil and correcting excessive elements and deficiencies will give best possible yield for the year.

when sending the soil for testing make sure you ask for the NPK and the elements mentioned above (Mg, Mn, Zn, Fe, Cu Mo) to be tested. Ask for pH to be tested. Ask them to test for Aluminium and Manganese saturation percentages. These will give the percentage of these elements available to the plants when growing in the soil. If Aluminium is above 6% you will need to add several tonnes of line to correct the pH. However not all the low pH soils will have Aluminium and Manganese toxicities.

Soil testing center information for Karnataka found on the web sites. 
(The author has no knowledge of how good these centers are)

University of Agriculture, GKVK has several campuses. They also have a Kissan Call center where farmers and public can get all agricultural information from trained professionals. Here is their web link. There is a toll free number 1551 dedicated to the call centre.

http://www.uasbangalore.edu.in/asp/kissanCallCentre.asp

2K Plus Geotechnique (Soil Testing - Bangalore)
Contact: 2944, V Ngr-560040. Phone: 080-23300645

Anantha Consultants (Soil Testing - Bangalore)
Contact: Mr. Sheshu
385/11, 1st N Blk R-Ngr-560010. Phone: 080-23326988

Aptech Foundations (Soil Testing - Bangalore)
Contact: Mr Venkatesh
1380 Sri Venkatadri I Flr Off 6th Crs Ashok Ngr Bsk I Stg-560050. Phone: 080-26672868

Deccan Engineers (India) (Soil Testing - Bangalore)
Contact: Mr. Bhaskar
No.30 Attur Layout Ambabhavani Temple Rd Yelahanka-560064. Phone: 080-28563487

Geo Engineering Co Pvt Ltd (Soil Testing - Bangalore)
Contact: 12 Palace Rd-560052. Phone: 080-22265498

Karnataka Test House Pvt. Ltd. (Soil Testing - Bangalore)
Contact: Mr. K.B.V. Pathi
8th Cross Triveni Rd Ypr-560054. Phone: 080-23378383

Nagadi Consultants (Soil Testing - Bangalore)
Contact: 1014 1st Mn 4th Blk R Ngr-560010. Phone: 080-23356076

Optimum Use Material Centre (Soil Testing - Bangalore)
Contact: Mr. Venkatesh
1380, Sri Venkatadri,Off 6th Crs,Ashok Ngr Bsk I Stg-560050. Phone: 080-26672819

Struct Geotech Research Laboratories Private Limited (Soil Testing - Bangalore)
Contact: Mr. Manoj
588, 6th Blk Hoskerehalli Crs Bsk 3rd Stg 2nd Ph-560085. Phone: 080-26422752

Vel Engineering Consultants (P) Ltd (Soil Testing - Bangalore)
Contact: Palaniappan
19, 3rd Mn Rd Extn,Venkateswara Ngr,Velachery CHN-600042. Phone: 044-22591667

For soil test kits  and soil testing (from Kirthi S)

Farmers and public can get soil testing kits for detils contact Zuari company or you can also contact GKVK, Hebbal for further details. 08023330153. 



Information from 

http://india.gov.in/outerwin.php?id=http://raitamitra.kar.nic.in/agriprofile/labs.htm#shc

SOIL HEALTH CENTRES:

  Department of Agriculture maintains 19 Soil Health Centres, three mobile Soil Health Centres and one Micro Nutrient Laboratory in the State. Micro Nutrient analysis is also done in seven Soil Health Centres other than the State Micro Nutrient Laboratory. The main objective of Soil Health Centres is to maintain the soil health by analysing nutrient status of the soils and to give suggestions on the quantities of major nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium to be applied to the soils. Micro Nutrient analysis is also important to know the status of Manganese, Boron, Zinc, Iron etc., present in the soil and accordingly suggest supplimental application for better plant growth. Mobile soil health centres go to the villages with all the lab. facilities and analyse  soils at the door-steps of  farmers.

The details of Soil Health Centres(SHC) in the State are given below:

Sl. No.	Soil Health Centre	Location	Micro Nutrient analysis facility
1.	SHC,Bangalore Rural and Bangalore Urban	Commissionerate of Agriculture, Bangalore.
2.	SHC, Kolar	Kolar
3.	SHC, Tumkur	Tumkur
4.	SHC, Mandya	Mandya	Yes
5.	SHC, Mysore & Chamarajanagar	Nanjangud	Yes
6.	SHC, Kodagu	Kudige, Somwarpet Taluk
7.	SHC, Hassan	Hassan
8 .	SHC, Chickmagalur	Chickmgalur
9.	SHC, Shimoga	Shimoga	Yes
10.	SHC, Chitradurga & Davanagere	Davanagere
11.	SHC, Dakshina Kannada & Udupi	Mangalore
12.	SHC, Uttara kannada	Sirsi
13.	SHC, Dharwar, Haveri & Gadag	Gadag
14.	SHC, Belgaum	Gokak	Yes
15.	SHC, Bijapur & Bagalkote	Jamkhandi	Yes
16.	SHC, Gulbarga	Kotnoor(Gulbarga)	Yes
17.	SHC, Bidar	Bhalki
18.	SHC, Raichur & Koppal	Dhadesugur (Sindhanur taluk)
19.	SHC, Bellary	Bellary	Yes
20.	Mobile Soil Health Centre, Dharwar	Dharwar
21.	Mobile Soil Health Centre, Nanjangudu	Nanjangudu
22.	Mobile Soil Health Centre, Gulbarga	Kotnoor
23.	Micro Nutrient Laboratory, (State level),Bangalore	Bangalore	Yes

In addition, water analysis for assessing its suitability for irragation is also under tajen at all the soil health centres. Soil and Water analysis is done free off cost except fpr Micro-nutrients which will be charged at Rs.5 per sample. The Department is also providing fertility cards to farmers for their use in fertiliser mamagment.

FERTILISER CONTROL LABORATORIES

There are four Fertiliser Control Laboratories in the State. The main objective of these laboratories is to maintain the quality of the fertilisers supplied to   farmers by manufacturers / dealers. Fertiliser samples are drawn by fertiliser inspectors under the Fertiliser Control Order and are analysed by fertiliser control laboratories. The details of samples which do not meet the required quality standards are intimated to the fertiliser inspectors by the laboratories for taking further necessary legal action against the concerned dealers/manufacturers.

The details of the fertiliser control laboratories are given below:-

Sl.No.	Laboratory	Location	District
1.	Fertiliser Control laboratory	Commissionerate of Agriculture, Bangalore.	Bangalore
2.	Fertiliser Control laboratory	Dharwar	Dharwar
3.	Fertiliser Control laboratory	Belthangady	Dakshina Kannada
4.	Fertiliser Control laboratory	Gangavathi	Koppal

Farmers can also send the samples of fertlisers on their own to any of the laboratories mentioned above for analysis by paying Rs.25 per sample.However, the results can be used by farmers for information sake and  can not be used for legal purposes.

BIO FERTILISER LABORATORIES

Bio Fertiliser can be used in Agriculture as a supplement to the chemical fertilisers. Though they cannot be manufactured in huge quantities, the available bio fertilisers improve the soil structure beside supplying plant nutrients. Department of Agriculture maintains three bio fertiliser laboratories in the State to produce bio fertilisers like Rhizobium, Azola, Blue green algae, Azatobacter, Azospiryllum etc., These bio fertilisers are supplied to farmers at subsidised rates.

The details of bio fertiliser laboratories in the State are given below:-

Sl.No.	Laboratory	Location	District
1.	Bio fertiliser laboratory	Hebbal	Bangalore (Urban)
2.	Bio fertiliser laboratory	Dharwar	Dharwar
3.	Bio fertiliser laboratory	Kotnoor	Gulbarga

BIO CONTROL LABORATORIES

Department of Agriculture runs four Bio control laboratories in the State. The main objective of these laboratories is to control some of the important pests of Sugarcane and other crops by using natural predators to control the pests instead of using chemicals. Bio control methods are useful in reducing the plant protection cost and also to eliminate environmental pollution. Sugarcane stem borer is controlled by a parasite viz., Trichogramma sp from past several decades. Other Bio-control agents like NPV,Crysoperra etc. are used.The new bio control laboratory located in Gulbarga will under take production of some of these parasites and predators. Parasites  produced in bio control laboratories or supplied to farmers at subsidised rates.

The details of the bio control laboratores in the State are given below:-

Sl.No	Laboratory	Location	District
1.	State bio control laboratory	Gulbarga	Gulbarga
2.	Bio control laboratory	Mandya	Mandya
3.	Bio control laboratory	Bailahongal	Belgaum
4.	Bio control laboratory	Gangavathi	Koppal

At present Departmental labs produced trichogramma chilinis sufficient to meet a demand of 4300 hectares of sugarcane and other crops.

INSECTICIDE CONTROL LABORATORIES

There are five Insecticide control laboratories in the State. The main objective of these laboratories is to check the quality of insecticides supplied to the farmers by dealers/manufacturers. Insecticide Inspectors, appointed by Government of India in accordance with Insecticide Act, draw Insecticide samples and these samples are analysed in Insecticide Control Laboratories to know whether they meet the required standards or not. Details of samples which do not meet the required standards are made known to  Insecticide Inspectors for taking further legal action against the concerned dealers/manufacturers.

Details of Insecticide control laboratories in the State are given below:

Sl.No.	Laboratory	Location	District
1.	Insecticide control laboratory	Commissionerate of Agriculture Bangalore	Bangalore
2.	Insecticide control laboratory	Dharwar	Dharwar
3.	Insecticide control laboratory	Bellary	Bellary
4.	Insecticide control laboratory	Shimoga	Shimoga
5.	Insecticide control laboratory	Kotnoor	Gulbarga

 Under Insecticide Act 1968 & Rules 1971, there is provision for analysing farmers samples at free of cost. Hence interested farmers may send samples of insectsides on their own to any one of the laboratory mentioned above for ascertaining the quality. However, the analysis report can not be used for legal matters.

SEED TESTING LABORATORIES

Department of Agriculture maintains four notified Seed Testing laboratories in the State. The main objective of these Seed Testing laboratories is to analyse seed samples in accordance with Seeds Act 1966, and to check the quality of seeds. Seed samples drawn by Seed Inspectors analysed for their purity, germination percentage etc., and details of seed samples which do not meet the required standards are made known to Seed Inspectors to take further legal action against the dealer and seed producer.

Details of Seed Testing Laboratories (STL)in the State are given below:-

Sl.No.	Seed Testing Laboratory	Taluk and District
1.	STL, Hebbal	Bangalore
2.	STL, Dharwar	Dharwar
3.	STL, Gangavathi	Gangavathi, Koppal
4.	STL, Davanagere	Davangere

Apart from the above laboratories, the Department of Horticulture is having one seed testing laboratory at Lalbagh, Bangalore and Karnataka State Seed Certification Agency is having two laboratories at Bangalore and Dharwad.

    During 1999-2000, the numbe of seed samples analysed by these four laboratories was 25632 comprising 6050 Act samples and 19582 service samples. Apart from this 2978 charged samples (@ Rs.25 per seed sample)were also analysed.

    It is programmed to analyes 33600 seed samples during 2000-2001, consisting of  8100 Act samples and 25500 Service samples. If any one on his own wants to gets seed sample analysed, it will be grouped under charged samples, which is in addition to Act and Service samples.

To interpret and understand soil test results please go to the web link

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/resources/soils/testing/interpret

From Kashinath Karnic

State Department of Horticulture located in Lalbagh, Bangalore has a well established soil testing laboratory. Similarly, The state dept. of agriculture, University of Agri.Sciences GKVK,Bangaore have soil testing facilities. You can avail their services at reasonable cost.

kskarnic M.Sc.Ag(Horticulture consultant)

From DD Rathod

As far as the soil testing is concenrned there are so many parameters that has to be analyzed for knowing the fertility status of soil like EC (Total Soluble salts), pH, Organic Carbon, N (Available and Total), Available P & K, Micronutrients like Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu and if your land/soil is situated near by city you have to analyzed it for heavy metals like Cd, Cr, Pb, Ni and Co as these elements found above the critical limits near by city area due to indicriminate dumping of city wates and industrial effluents and wastes. If you wanted to do such analysis then contact me on my e-mail IDrathod_dd@yahoo.co.in and my mobile No. is 09375011671.

Water Quality testing


http://www.envtest.com/F6068/water_testing.html

Disclaimer
This information is provided for education of people. The author has no affiliation with any of the testing centers or University of Agriculture in any way. Please telephone first and ask for information and get the tests conducted. Consult an agricultural officer to take corrective actions.